AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For the second time that day, and the millionth time since they’d met in third grade, Ella thanked her lucky stars for the bold and brassy Genevieve, who wasn’t scared of anything and somehow made her feel invincible by the sheer power of ballsiness osmosis.
The woman’s eyes sparked, and Ella put her hands up in front of her. Best to diffuse the situation before anyone ended up in a headlock. Knowing G, she couldn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t be one of the agents.
She made her voice as reasonable as she could. “I think there’s been some kind of mix up. I’m not married. That’s why I’m confused.”
“Ma’am, do you realize it’s a crime to lie to a federal agent?”
“I swear, I’m not lying. I don’t have a husband.”
The woman pulled out a small notebook and consulted it. “You are Ella Fletcher of Valentine Bay, Oregon?” she asked, and then rattled off Ella’s address, age, and social security number.
“Um, yeah. I mean that’s really unsettling you know all that, but, yes, it’s all accurate.”
“Yeah,” Gen piped up, “which makes it even weirder that you’d fuck up something as big as whether she was married or not.”
“Ma’am, I have no idea why you would try to hide it, but we are well aware that you are married to Donovan Valentine.”
Ella’s jaw dropped, followed soon after by her stomach as she listened to the date that the woman recited…fifteen years ago.
Oh, shit.
It was real. It had happened. That night so long ago in Vegas, she and Donovan had actually gotten married somehow, and because they hadn’t thought it was legit, they’d never made any moves to undo it.
“I don’t…I can’t…” she stammered. Her mind swam with all of the reasons the agents might be here. She knew Donovan wasn’t a criminal. His family filled her in on details here and there, and he told her what he could when they exchanged emails. She knew he was part of the Secret Service, but that was about it.
She didn’t know what to say. Should she tell the truth? What if something she said had negative ramifications on his career? She thought the best thing to do would be to get more information before giving any out.
“Why are you asking about Donovan? Is something wrong? Did he do something?”
The agent narrowed her eyes. “Well, ma’am. He got married and didn’t declare it. When confronted about it, he lied. And now that you’re being confronted with it, you’re lying. We’re talking about a person who’s in the room with the President of the United States on a daily basis. Someone who is one of the few people in the world permitted to have a firearm within range of POTUS. And that person is hiding things, and lying about it. Did he do something wrong? I don’t know yet. But you’re damn right I’m suspicious.”
God. The agent’s speech almost had her believing Donovan was some kind of secret agent. Shit. She needed to get her head together. “I can’t talk now,” she blurted.
The woman’s eyes narrowed, but again, Genevieve had her back. “Listen, Agent Hardass. Unless she’s under arrest, she’ll talk to you when she’s ready.”
Agent Hardass’s jaw tightened, but after a moment, she snapped her notebook shut and said tightly, “Fine. We’ll be back at the beginning of next week. Be sure that you are ‘ready’ by then.”
